Clutter-Free Classroom Project Linky Party

I am linking up with Clutter-Free Classroom to participate in a Linky Party all about being clutter-free and organized in your classroom! As part of the Week 1 Challenge, I took pictures of my classroom to serve as my "before" pictures. Please excuse the mess and keep in mind that these pictures were taken the night before the first day back from Christmas break. I think my room is still recovering from that last week before break :)

I like the picture above of my classroom library. I like the look of my baskets, but I have made label after label after label after label {you get my point} and am never satisfied with my labels for my baskets. We use Accelerated Reader at my school so my books are all organized by AR level. To appease myself, this summer I simply made very small labels to go at the very bottom of my book baskets. They are doing the job, but are not the cutest. This is on my to-do list: to find or create labels for my book basket bins.

This is where I keep my work stations. Math work stations are in the 10 drawers to the left which always {and I mean always} come off the track and get shoved in anyway. Does anyone else have this problem with these drawers? The clear bins to the right house my literacy work stations. While I do love the clear bins and the black bookshelf, obviously the bins do not fit in the bookshelf. They are too long. This really really irks me. Is irks a word and did I spell it correctly? Hmm..

This is my reading focus wall. I put my own spin on this focus wall I found on Life in First Grade. I love, love, love the pink and green. The cute little beach chairs are a favorite among my students during AR reading time. You can also get a glimpse of my mini teacher's toolbox on my black shelf. This was inspired by this one and this one. I like how it ties in with my pink and lime green theme :)

This is my teacher area. Notice how I don't have a teacher's desk in the middle of my room or even facing my students? I saw this idea on many, many blogs this summer - Get Rid of the Teacher Desk! Well, I didn't get rid of it completely, but I did shove it up against a wall. I mean, who has time to sit down at their desk during the day with 20+ kids in the room anyway?! More room for the kids!! I love this area for me and the extra room for the kids in front of the ActivBoard. Ignore the Target bag. Every time I go to work in my room on a non-school day I think I walk in with Target Dollar Section Goodies. Anybody with me?

The view from the door to the left. Ignore that big ugly chair as it's fixing to go to storage too!

The view from the door to the right. Do you guys go through as much hand sanitizer as I do? Notice the economy-size bottle on the small group table.

The view from the front to the back.

The view from the other side of the room to my door. Again, that ugly chair has GOT to go! I love the Mac computers in our school. Don't they look just awesome {insert Mac geek comments here}.

Ahhh, this makes me smile. I love, love, love my crate seats. Inspired by Pinterest, created by my husband. An afternoon project this summer that was so much fun. My kiddos love sitting at them during small group time. See the original post about these here.

This is the book shelf by my desk that houses all of my teacher materials and my favorite thing in the world - my BINDERS! Notice how everything has a label...typed. My materials are also grouped by content area and grade level as I have materials that span from 1st to 4th.

So that's my "before" pictures. It's not quite as bad as I had expected, but I always seem to want to change it up a bit and re-organize. What do you think?

To see other bloggers "before" pictures follow the button below to join the Linky Party.

Hi! Just found your blog for the first time. Your classroom looks really organized already. I teach 2nd grade too and love it. I had the colored drawer/storage cart and the drawers were ALWAYS coming off the tracks! Drove me crazy!

I soooo feel you about those rainbow drawers (that's what I call them). Mine are always coming off the tracks and some have broken. I wonder if you can just buy replacement drawers anywhere???NicoleTeaching With Style!

I have the same drawers for math workstations and the same bins for literacy centers. We do have issues with the drawers being pushed in too far but I have a couple girls that go behind everyone and fixes them. The bins are great but hard to store where they fit nicely...I'm looking for a solution to that too. I really like your book bins, they look awesome!

So, I found you from your comment on Ladybugs "Before" pictures and was expecting to see lots of clutter...your room looks great to me! Seriously, looks fabulous. My room is much more cluttered, but I'm glad you're participating. I'm a new follower!

Where did you get the literacy work station clear bins?? I've been trying to find some like that to change from my files in a filling cabinet to put each theme into those.... Let me know please, Thanks! :) Love your classroom!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE your focus wall. What are the white thingies you used to hang your mini posters and words with? I am desperately trying to figure out an easy way to do this as I have to pack up my room every 3 months and move to a new classroom.

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